tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post8161836800316380440..comments2019-09-14T14:42:17.411-04:00Comments on Existential Ennui: Book Review: Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death (Mitch Tobin #1) by Tucker Coe, alias Donald E. Westlake (Souvenir Press, 1967)Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-6269080824345181122012-08-03T05:13:43.325-04:002012-08-03T05:13:43.325-04:00My pleasure, Brian. Glad you&#39;re enjoying Kinds...My pleasure, Brian. Glad you&#39;re enjoying Kinds of Love (despite its state of disrepair). I&#39;m not sure when I&#39;ll get to progress beyond Murder Among Children, so you might soon be ahead of me in the series. Time for a blog post, perhaps...?Louis XIV, "The Sun King" (Nick Jones)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-88555303832675394572012-08-02T22:23:21.764-04:002012-08-02T22:23:21.764-04:00Thanks for your Tucker Coe posts. I knew these bo...Thanks for your Tucker Coe posts. I knew these books existed but for some reason they never caught my fancy - which is odd because I am interested in just about everything Westlake did. (Except Samuel Holt - any chance you can work on that?)<br /><br />I got my copy of Kinds of Love today. It&#39;s ugly. Probably a BCE. Someone cut up the dust jacket and pasted parts of it onto the inside cover of the book. But I started reading it and love it. And having a crappy copy is kind of liberating - I just ordered cheap copies of the other four Tobin books so I can read them now and will worry about getting nice editions at some distant point in the future. I will look at yours until then.Book Gluttonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14569975755798562829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-76279759460544816282012-07-19T04:48:56.421-04:002012-07-19T04:48:56.421-04:00Chris: fair enough.
Hyraxia: Thanks! And yes, you...Chris: fair enough.<br /><br />Hyraxia: Thanks! And yes, you probably do...Louis XIV, "The Sun King" (Nick Jones)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-14081268320316556182012-07-19T03:11:11.061-04:002012-07-19T03:11:11.061-04:00Great review - very much enjoyed it. I think I nee...Great review - very much enjoyed it. I think I need to get back into Westlake...Hyraxiahttp://www.hyraxia.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-21502701427039476742012-07-18T09:03:21.948-04:002012-07-18T09:03:21.948-04:00Well basically I said that Kate was a fine charact...Well basically I said that Kate was a fine character who served both the narrative and her spouse&#39;s mental health well, but she really played no active role in the series, nor did she verbally joust with Tobin (she doesn&#39;t talk much, period), and once he has regained his mental equilibrium, she&#39;s quite happy if he never gets involved in another murder case again. The same could hardly be said for Nora Charles, who wants Nick to be solving mysteries for her sake as much as his, since she obviously married him in hopes of escaping the boredom of being a rich society gal. <br /><br />So you would probably be wasting Myrna Loy on Kate, is what I was trying to say. But I like her anyway. For a saint, she is exceptionally likeable. And I suppose Westlake (who created a fair few love interests for his protagonists who do resemble Nora) was thinking he didn&#39;t want to simply transport the Charles&#39; to bluecollar Queens. Tobin was inspired by The Thin Man, but he&#39;s very decidedly his own man.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-62425115492992646022012-07-18T08:30:40.071-04:002012-07-18T08:30:40.071-04:00No idea what happened to your response, Chris: I d...No idea what happened to your response, Chris: I didn&#39;t get an email notification, and it&#39;s not in the blog spam folder. It&#39;s vanished into the ether!Louis XIV, "The Sun King" (Nick Jones)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-18360445678422116282012-07-18T08:21:38.922-04:002012-07-18T08:21:38.922-04:00Hmm. Thought I responded to this. Nick, did it g...Hmm. Thought I responded to this. Nick, did it get lost somehow? Hate to type it out again. On an iPad yet. :)Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-51674311535134339472012-07-17T04:55:40.636-04:002012-07-17T04:55:40.636-04:00John: I recall reading your review back then. I&#3...John: I recall reading your review back then. I&#39;m looking forward to making my way through the remainder of the series.<br /><br />Chris: I didn&#39;t know that about Westlake being inspired by Hammett, but I think you&#39;re being a little hard on Kate. She plays a pivotal role in both Kinds of Love and Murder Among Children, which I&#39;m reading at the moment. It&#39;s Kate who presses Mitch into becoming involved in each instance, and part of his reason for doing so is because of her belief that it will help him. He doubtless knows that himself, of course, but Kate provides the impetus. She&#39;s a support system, but she&#39;s also a driver.Louis XIV, "The Sun King" (Nick Jones)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-57571585749033043382012-07-16T16:47:36.224-04:002012-07-16T16:47:36.224-04:00In the 60&#39;s, Westlake wrote as Stark about pro...In the 60&#39;s, Westlake wrote as Stark about protagonists who knew exactly who they were, and under his own name about protagonists who had to find out who they were (or die trying). <br /><br />As Coe, he wrote about a man who used to know who he was, but then lost himself, and has to gradually find his way back over the course of five books.<br /><br />Westlake said Tobin was directly inspired by Hammett&#39;s Nick Charles, a character Westlake describes as having lost the one thing that defined him, namely his work as a detective. He doesn&#39;t want to acknowledge this. He just manages his beautiful young wife&#39;s estate, and slowly amiably drinks himself to death. Nora sees what he needs, and encourages him to get back to detective work, which was excited her about him in the first place. He resists, but gets sucked back in against his will. <br /><br />Tobin is a better developed character, but Westlake cut his Nora&#39;s involvement down to being a support system (granted, Westlake didn&#39;t have Lillian Hellman to serve as a model, as the nearly depleted Hammett did).Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-17641745283799392352012-07-16T11:38:16.264-04:002012-07-16T11:38:16.264-04:00The entire Mitch Tobin series is excellent. Truly ...The entire Mitch Tobin series is excellent. Truly the best of Westlake in his dramatic mode. I read this and <i>Jade in Aries</i> last year when we had &quot;DEW Day&quot; as part of Patti Abbot&#39;s collective Friday&#39;s Forgotten Books. It&#39;s one of the rare instances in criem ficiton in which crime solving serves a therapeutic purpose for a character broken in mind and spirit. The books exhibit Westlake&#39;s surprisingly compassionate side. Highly recommended.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.com